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PBA PICTURES
MANILA, Philippines – Magnolia warmed up at the right time and buried Barangay Geneva in the fourth quarter en route to a 102-92 PBA Philippine Cup victory Sunday at the Angeles University Foundation.
The Hotshots trailed the Gin Kings 72-64 at the end of the third, but reduced the lead after beating Geneva 25-14 in the fourth.
Chris Banchero capped Magnolia’s 20-7 run for the Hotshots’ 84-79 lead in the third minute of the quarter.
Mark Barroca then pierced the three-point dagger with 25 seconds left to give Magnolia a 102-89 lead.
Head coach Chito Victolero said the victory over Geneva was crucial for the Hotshots as they avoided getting into a disastrous 1-5 hole.
“This was a breakout game for us because we are in a life or death situation because we are 1-4 and we have to recover, it just so happened that we faced Geneva,” Victolero said in Filipino as his team improved to 2- Four.
“We could have won our previous games, but in the last two or three minutes we just failed and at the same time we couldn’t get the breaks.”
Magnolia lost to Phoenix 91-84 in their previous game in which the Fuel Masters went 22-0 in the fourth, while their loss to Meralco came very close to 109-104.
Jackson Corpuz broke with 20 points and six rebounds to lead the Hotshots, who won their first game of the Manila Classic after four knockout round matches against the Gin Kings.
Paul Lee and Barroca each had 15 points, while Ian Sangalang added 14 points and eight rebounds for Magnolia.
Stanley Pringle had a maximum of 24 points to lead the Gin Kings, who saw their four-game winning streak snapped when they fell to 4-1.
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